Marketing: Agency vs. In-House compared to our model

Selecting the best marketing structure is critical to achieving growth and improving customer experience. We compare Agencies and In-House teams based on a number of factors like speed, quality, and alignment with business objectives, and introduce the OutpostX model as a hybrid approach tailored for B2B businesses.

1. Agency Marketing

Agencies come in two forms, Specialist Agencies that focus on a single area, such as SEO, branding or social media and Full-Service Agencies that offer comprehensive marketing solutions across multiple channels. We'll focus on Full-Service as they are a better proposition for Small & Mid-sized businesses and B2B companies.

I think for B2B full-service agencies are better because they require a bit of everything, rather than specialist support in any one channel like SEO or Paid-ads.

You often find businesses forcing the specialist agencies to then undertake the extra tasks like improving the website which gives poor results. Faizan Khan - Founder OutpostX

Positives of using Agencies

• High-quality output: Agencies employ specialists who have years of experience in the area and familiar with the latest trends, tactics, and technologies. This allows them to deliver a higher quality output.
  

• Bandwidth and speed: With larger teams, agencies can execute campaigns more quickly and efficiently. Executing quickly and efficiently is important in modern day marketing.

Negatives of using Agencies

• Attention: SME's will be smaller clients for these agencies and as a result may receive less focus compared to larger accounts, resulting in generic strategies, copy paste tactics and tasks going to the 'intern' or inexperienced team member.
  

• Alignment: Agencies won't be invested in understanding your business goals and customer base, leading to surface-level solutions that may deliver on paper but not in terms of actual increase in sales.

2. In-House Marketing

In-house teams in B2B businesses typically consist of one or two individuals handling multiple marketing responsibilities. In-house teams offer flexibility which can both be a positive and negative. We've seen in-house teams having to deal with non-marketing tasks, which is inefficient in the long run.

Positives of In-house marketing teams

• Alignment with business goals: In-house marketers better understand the product, customer, and company objectives. Provided they attend company meetings, talk to product developers, sales teams and all of this extra knowledge helps them become better marketers.
  

• Honesty: Teams can prioritise strategies that deliver tangible value rather than chasing vanity metrics. Although with the average marketer lasting 1.5 years in a role, 'short-termism' has impacted internal teams as well.
  

Negatives of in-house marketing teams

• Limited bandwidth: A small team or one person marketing operation struggles to manage multiple channels effectively. Failing to get the impact required. The tasks can easily add up often forcing SMEs to get additional agency support.
  

• Slower execution: Managing multiple responsibilities often delays project completion. Fast execution is key in modern marketing where trends, competitors and algorithms change so quickly.
  

• Quality: Lacking expertise in specialised areas can lead to below par results. Poor design, SEO mistakes that cost your business and poor strategy. More than half of marketers say they have not studied a marketing related course or qualification of any kind.
  

3. The OutpostX Model

The OutpostX model looks to combine the strengths of both models, offering a flexible and cost-effective solution for SMEs. The OutpostX model is designed from the ground up with SME's in mind, changing the traditional approach to marketing. The OutpostX model revolves around 'Brand Immersed' marketing that works closely with your business to understand the product, customer and business objectives. This can be via condensed integration sprints or regular time in your office. And an experienced Central Production Team that specialise in individual marketing channels to give the highest quality without typical agency costs.

• Brand-immersed marketing leads: Work in-house (up to two days per week) to gain an in-depth understanding of your business and objectives.
  

• Centralised production team: Delivers agency-level quality and speed without the high costs associated with traditional agencies.
  

• Flexibility: Specialist support across all marketing channels based on ever changing needs and our confidence in our approach means no long contracts

  
  

Key Takeaways

Factor	Agency	In-House	Outpostx
Quality	High (if focused)	Low	High
Speed	Fast	Slow	Fast
Business Alignment	Limited	Strong	Strong (via integration)
Flexibility	High	Low	High

For small or mid-sized businesses looking for an efficient and scalable marketing strategy, the OutpostX model offers a balanced alternative, providing the expertise of an agency with the alignment and flexibility of an in-house team.

Find out more about the OutpostX model - get in touch